Evidence Mounts: Super Bowl LI = Rigged

A few days ago, we saw a very exciting game of football. Not only was it the Super Bowl, but it was arguably the most exciting game in football history. Hall of Fame running back Ladainian Tomlinson had some words to say: “Man, what a game man, what a game. That was worth livin’ for.” Many other NFL stars had similar words. However, the point of this article is not for the entertaining game but of how rigged it was.

As the first half was winding down, the Patriots had the ball at their own 39 yard line with 3rd and 6. Tom Brady threw an incomplete pass, but the refs called a holding on the defense. Not only was there no hold, but it was supposed to be a facemask on the Patriots. The next set of downs, the same thing happened except this time, the Patriots faced a 3rd and 10. And guess what happened on 3rd down again the 3rd time in a row? Holding was called on the Falcons yet again.

Luckily for the Falcons, the Patriots are bad and Tom Brady threw an interception that went for a touchdown the next play. They were going to call another holding. At that point the Falcons were up 21-0 and on their way to their first Lombardi trophy yet, the refs were not done. In the second half, Matt Ryan threw a 5 yard pass. Of course the refs called it back because of a holding penalty that shouldn’t never happened since the Patriots committed an obvious face mask penalty. We asked commentator Mike Tirico what he thought of the call. “How do you not see the face mask? I can bet everyone that was watching on TV saw it so how did the refs not? The Falcons went three and out after.

The Patriots went on to score 25 unanswered to tie the game with 4:20 left in the 4th. That run included a bobbled “catch” that clearly touched the ground. Then, Atlanta opted to not win the game by kicking a field goal with two minutes left. The Patriots’ touchdown was the most controversial play of the game. Tom Brady threw a pass to Julian Edelman for a three yard touchdown. The only problem was that the Falcons called a timeout about five seconds before the snap, in which the refs “didn’t notice”. In the end of course the Pats won 34-28 in overtime to steal the Super Bowl from the worthy Falcons, in which we also witnessed Roger Goodell shake hands with Tom Brady. In conclusion, this Super Bowl made history by being the first to go to overtime, but it really should be remembered as one of the most rigged games in the history of football.